


Hero Worship

by WowzaPigs



Category: Animorphs - Katherine A. Applegate
Genre: Alien/Human Relationships, Angst, Depression, Fluff, Hero Worship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-13
Updated: 2019-08-13
Packaged: 2020-08-20 15:22:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,278
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20230048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WowzaPigs/pseuds/WowzaPigs
Summary: Animorphs fanfic? In 2019?The rarest of pairs, unfortunately.Jake and Ax grab a cinnabon after the war.This is somehow both sad and happy. Supposed to be a ship fic, but the most they do is hold hands.





	Hero Worship

Ax had been called in for service, as a prince. As soon as he gets the news, his eyes are bright and wild.

<A prince? Me?>

Jake smiles sadly. He was so used to seeing Ax in his brothers shadow. Now that he’s Prince Aximili, he can’t take that title away from him. 

Jake personally doesn’t understand the appeal. He doesn’t want to be a soldier, or even a commander. The war for earth is won, and they can rest easy. Is this really what Ax wants? His heart aches.

“Ax…”

<Yes, Prince Jake?>

Jake smiles gently. “I’m not your prince anymore, Ax. The war is over.” Jake pauses. “Are you going to go? Fight again?”

<...I don’t know. It’s a very big opportunity for me.>

“If you choose to go, will you wait? Stay here, for a while. I don’t want to lose you right after everything that happened. I can’t make you stay, but just for a week or two, don’t leave.”

A moment passes between the two. All four of Ax’s eyes are focused on Jake. When he finally speaks, he sounds compromised.

<Of course. Anything you want, prince Jake.> His thought-speak is quiet.

“I’m not asking you as your prince, I’m asking you as your friend.”

<You know, I don’t think I could stop even if I wanted to.> Ax smiles at Jake with his eyes in a way that makes him feel weak around the knees. <Serving you was the greatest honour this world ever bestowed upon me.>

Jakes eyes shift guiltily to the side. “Ax, I’m not perfect, whatever you think. I don’t want you to treat me as if I were a god. I’m just a guy, like you. We were all put in a tough situation, and we all had to make hard decisions. I’m not better than you.”

<I want to stay. I will take a while to decide if I will accept the role they want me to take on.>

Jake nods. He stands up slowly.

“Do you want to… go to the mall? Grab a cinnabon? Like old times?”

<I think I would like that.>

It would have been faster to fly using a bird morph, but Jake and Ax decide to walk instead. Or, at least, Jake decides while Ax remains impartial out of habit. What use is there in saving the world if they can’t enjoy it? 

A pleasant silence lapses during their walk. Ax is in his regular Andalite body. He much prefers it over his human form, and there’s no need to hide anymore, except to deter prying human eyes. But Jake draws enough attention as it is, so there’s really no way to avoid that, save for morphing.

When they arrive outside the Mall, Ax pauses.

<Prince Jake, I believe I should demorph here, perhaps in a side street. I don’t want to disturb the humans here.>

“Alright, Ax. I’ll wait for you here. Catch.”

Jake lightly tosses a small backpack towards Ax. The backpack contains Ax’s clothes and shoes. Ax has morphing clothes like the rest of them, but there’s no stranger spectacle than a guy in skin-tight spandex shoving his mouth full of cinnamon buns. Now he’ll just be a guy in overalls shoving his mouth full of cinnamon buns. The overalls had been purchased by Rachel, before…

She had insisted his sense of fashion was terrible, and so had taken him to the mall on a shopping spree. The mall was destroyed, like a lot of the rest of the town, but a new one had been erected here. It wasn’t the same, and Rachel would have been scandalised that the Old Navy hadn’t been restored.

Ax emerges in his human morph. His hair has grown out a bit since they were kids, and it gives him this sort of goofy, floppy look. The stark contrast between this and his noble andalite form makes Jake smile.

“You ready to go, Ax?”

“Yes, prince Jake. I am ready. Red. Ee. Dee.”

Some things never change.

Ax and Jake enter the mall, making a beeline for the food court. Reaching into his backpack for his wallet, Jake prepares for Ax’s appetite. Of course, he’s rich now. He’ll never get used to that.

“What will you have, Prince Jake?” Ax asks, showing surprising restraint.

While the server does a double take, Jake mulls over his order.

“Two cinnabons with icing, please.” He glances at Ax. “Actually, make it three.”

They sit down at a table with their food. Jake kicks himself mentally for not saying what he wanted to say on the walk here. He’ll never get anything out of Ax now. 

He can’t help it, though. He’s fought yeerks, he’s planned out guerilla warfare, he’s outsmarted Visser One himself. War, he’s good at. He’s never been good at being open with his emotions. At least, not since he took on the role as leader of the Animorphs.

“Prince Jake, is something bothering you?” Ax has already finished both his cinnabons and is now hungrily eyeing Jake’s, which has barely been touched. 

“No, Ax. I’m fine, actually. Just not hungry.” He pushes his food towards Ax.

“Then why did you suggest going out to eat? Tuh.” Ax asks before eagerly biting into the cinnamon bun. 

Jake thinks the question over for a moment, grasping for any answer that won’t incriminate him. He finds none.

“You know, you’re so perceptive sometimes, Ax.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Please don’t apologise.”

“Yes, prince Jake.”

Jake sighs, but doesn’t bring up the use of the title.

“Sometimes we’re so similar it scares me, Ax. Other times you’re so alien to me.”

“I  _ am _ an alien.”

“I’m a human, and you’re an andalite. Sometimes that gap seems too huge to bridge.”

“My brother did it.” Ax says, not looking at Jake.

“What do you mean?”

Ax pauses, unsure.

“Elfangor married a human.”

“Oh.”

Silence stretches between the pair for a few seconds.

“I’m sorry, that was out of line.”

“Stop apologizing, Ax.”

“But…”

“Aximili. You never have to apologize to me just for existing.”

Ax says nothing, his brown eyes staring tensely at Jake. Then he nods. Jake reaches out to place a hand on Ax’s in what he hopes is a comforting gesture.

“Ax, I’m scared of losing you. I’m scared that you’ll go off and join the Andalite military and never come back. I feel like everyone resents me for what I did during the war. Everyone except for you.”

“I could never resent you.”

“Even after everything I did?”

“You won the war, Jake.”

Jake looks at Ax with surprise at the dropping of the title, and Ax smiles in that goofy, self conscious way of someone not used to a human form.

“Ax… do you think it was worth it? All the pain, all the suffering? We won, but at what cost? I’ve been so depressed lately, and it makes me mad. We won the war. Shouldn’t that be enough?”

“Does it matter?”

“What?”

“We’re here, whether it was worth it or not. You don’t have to dwell on it forever.”

“Oh.” Jake’s voice cracks in a way it hasn’t for years. Jake never allowed himself to break down, during the war. Too much hinged on him. But now, he was very close to crying in front of Ax.

“Are you alright, prince Jake?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“But your eyes are…”

“I know, Ax.”

“I think I want to stay on Earth, with you. If you’ll allow me.”

Jake just nods. He should feel relief, but he’s just so, so tired.

“Let’s go home.”

So they do. Jake holds Ax’s hand the entire way home.


End file.
